Mirror
by JanSuch
Summary: There's an accident on the set of the new Sanctuary movie, but something very odd happens.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I don't own Sanctuary or the Sanctuary characters, and I'm making no profit from this. Portrayals of actual people are entirely from my imagination and should not be construed to be accurate representations.

There was a sudden disorientation and then something hit Nikola very hard in the back. No, he was on his back and had hit something . . .

He could hear voices, but couldn't move, or open his eyes. He heard footsteps approaching and someone yelled "Cut! Turn that damn camera off!" fairly close to him. A different voice said "Stay back. Everyone take twenty. Has someone called an ambulance?"

Nikola wondered vaguely why anyone should call an ambulance; not for him, surely, he was a vampire and would heal himself. But he did feel very odd, disoriented and lethargic.

Someone touched him, held his wrist. "There's a pulse, he's alive" from one voice "Thank God" from a second, "Don't move him" from a third. _Good, I really don't feel like moving_ _just yet_ Nikola thought.

He faded out for a while. Then there were other voices and hands on him, running over his arms and legs. Someone put something around his neck that held his head still, and there was some fumbling and pressure at the back of his head. Hands rolled him gently to one side, something slid under him and he was eased onto his back again.

Warmer, blanket he supposed, straps across his thighs and chest. Then he was being lifted and moved head first. Where were they taking him? For that matter, where was he?

There were a couple of bumps and he went into shadow, an enclosed space, then there was a different lighting. There were shuffling sounds around him, door closing, the vehicle moving, and a siren. So he was in an ambulance, how odd.

Something cold on his chest, "Heartbeat sixty" a man said. Tightness around his upper arm, then gone, "One ten over seventy" said a second man. They were taking his vitals, which was a rather silly thing to do, he was fine. Something in his ear, "Ninety-seven point eight." Nikola double-checked; yes, he was fine, although he had a bit of a headache.

He opened his eyes a slit. One of the men saw him and said "Just lie still. Can you tell me your name?"

"Nikola Tesla. What's yours?"

The man frowned fleetingly but then smiled a little and said "I'm Jim and this is Ted." Nikola noted Ted was doing something to his arm. "We're EMTs and we're going to take care of you until we get to the hospital."

There was a beautiful dark-haired woman in the ambulance too, behind the men. Nikola hadn't noticed her before but she moved forward a little and said "Jon, you're going to be fine. I'm right here with you."

"Thass nice" Nikola said, suddenly feeling groggy. Oh, they had a needle in him. Whatever they were giving him made the headache go away, but made most of his awareness go away with it.

He woke up in bed. He finally felt fully awake, and the bars on the sides of the bed and the institutional look of the room made him realize he was in the hospital. He had a bandage around his head, and he was wearing one of those awful hospital gowns, but at least he was covered by the sheet and blanket.

He wasn't alone. The woman from the ambulance was there, and there was a man with her he didn't recognize at all. They noticed he was awake.

"Welcome back, sleepy-head" the woman said kindly.

Nikola replied "Hi Helen. Who's that and why would you let them take me to a hospital of all places?"

The two people exchanged a concerned look. "My name isn't Helen, Jon, it's Amanda, and this is Damien. You remember him, don't you? He created Sanctuary and he's the producer of our film."

Nikola looked at them, suddenly a little worried. What was going on, was this some sort of cover story for a mission? But a quick sweep of the room showed no cameras and there was no one else there.

"Is this some kind of a joke? Because I have to say it's in awfully poor taste."

The man Damien spoke for the first time. "It must be the head injury. Maybe I should get the doctor."

Helen, who for some reason was calling herself Amanda, nodded and said "Good idea." She pulled a chair up to the bed and lowered the railing on that side as the man left the room.

She sat, took his hand and asked "Exactly what do you remember?"

Nikola looked at her speculatively. Either everyone here was crazy, or he was crazy, or something very peculiar had happened. In any case maybe he'd better start playing along so he didn't end up in a rubber room.

"Not much. I remember landing very hard, the ambulance ride, and waking up just now."

"And before that?"

"Everything is pretty hazy. Maybe you should tell me. But first, can I sit up here somehow?"

She found the bed control and raised the head for him until he was sitting mostly upright. "We're making a Sanctuary film. We were doing a shot where your character is chasing an Abnormal off of a roof and down a series of platforms that lead down to the ground. The CG artists will turn the platforms into packing crates later. Do you remember that?"

"Yeah, kinda." _Or not at all, since I'm an inventor, scientist and engineer and not an actor._

"Everything went perfectly in rehearsal. Then when we were filming, Jack- the man playing the Abnormal?- he came down ahead of you, you waited for your cue and then you came after him. You were moving very fast, Martin was loving it, but when you hit the third platform it collapsed. Believe me, the stunt coordinator feels terrible and there's an investigation both by the studio and the safety people."

"How far did I fall?"

"Over twenty feet on to concrete. It was completely uncontrolled and terrifying I assure you. When you feel up to it, if you want, you can see it since the cameras were rolling."

"So I hit pretty hard."

"Honestly, I thought you were dead. When I saw the pool of blood around your head . . . I really don't want to think about that anymore. You're here, very much alive, and I'm very, very glad."

The door opened and a man in a white coat entered followed by Damien. The doctor introduced himself "I'm Doctor Cullen, Mr. Young. I treated you when you came into the ER. I hear you're having some trouble with your memory."

"A little, but things are clearing up_." Especially after someone tells me what supposedly happened. Or maybe what did happen here, wherever here is; down the rabbit hole, over the rainbow, alternate universe?_

The doctor pulled out a small flashlight and checked Nikola's pupil reactions. "Everything looks good. There is some swelling around the injury and you suffered a concussion. It's very common for memory problems with this type and severity of blow to the head. That should clear up in a day or two. If it doesn't or if you start having any odd sensations, numbness, loss of movement, seizures, vision or hearing distortions, you need to come back to the ER immediately."

"I can leave now?"

"No, we want to keep an eye on you for 24 hours. If everything is fine you can go home tomorrow."

"When can he come back to work?" Damien asked.

"I'd give him at least a couple of days at home, but no real exertion for at least a week."

The woman who denied she was Helen said "We can shoot around him."

Damien said "For a little while; I can reschedule the action scenes. I wrote the story heavily Tesla for the fans and now this happens, but don't blame yourself, Jon, it was definitely not your fault. And don't worry; we'll make it all work out somehow."

The doctor looked at Nikola and said "Don't let them talk you into anything. Head injuries are serious; you wait until you feel up to it before you do anything." Dr. Cullen left.

Nikola asked "Are my clothes here somewhere?"

"No, and you're staying right where you are until tomorrow; you heard the doctor" Helen- no, Amanda- said.

Damien added "Call me on my cell tomorrow, I'll send your clothes and a car to take you to the hotel." He wrote the phone number down and left it on a little table next to the bed.

At Nikola's blank look Amanda added "We're on location, remember?"

Nikola pretended to and said "Oh, yeah, that's right."

As they left Amanda said "I'll talk to you tomorrow. If you need anything, call, okay?" Then she snapped a photo of him with her phone, explaining "Just so I can show everyone you're really alive and awake. It will make the stunt crew feel better."

Nikola used the remote by his bed, turned on the TV and watched the news. It convinced him he really wasn't in his own world, or universe, or reality or whatever. And it also provided a cover so he could think.

While the set droned on he considered what had happened. He did remember now that he had been in his lab. When he'd slammed into the concrete his first reaction had been surprise because there wasn't anything in the lab that could explode. But he had been investigating a piece of Praxian technology. By itself it shouldn't have done a thing, but perhaps it had come into proximity with something else?

He closed his eyes and visualized his lab. He mentally walked around, seeing in his head where every piece of equipment, every tool, every nut and bolt had been. But his concentration was broken by someone coming into his room. An obnoxiously cheery woman had brought in a dinner tray and was chatting about how she loved the show and his character in particular. Nikola smiled back and murmured appropriate things trying to imitate some actor named Jon that he'd never met.

When she finally left, it occurred to him that everyone was seeing him as this actor. Nikola fairly leapt out of the bed and went into the bathroom to look in the mirror. But the face staring back at him was his own. Nikola frowned at the mirror. So he and this actor looked exactly alike? Was that significant? And if he was here, was the actor- there?

The guy would never be able to keep up the pretense that he was Nikola Tesla, no matter how much they looked alike. Helen would see very quickly that something was wrong. Nikola hoped she didn't shoot the poor guy; not being a vampire, a fit of temper on Helen's part could kill him.

Nikola went back to his bed and stared at the food on the tray. He dumped most of it in the toilet and flushed a couple of times, then got back into bed and sipped the tea. He would have to feed eventually, but surprisingly he wasn't very hungry considering he'd been injured and had had to heal his head. The interdimensional trip had been rather tiring too.

He had healed his head, hadn't he? With all the bandages he wasn't sure. A little doubt crept in. What if he really was this actor guy and the brain injury had completely unhinged him? He couldn't be imagining his whole hundred and sixty year life, could he?

There was one way to find out; but later, when he wouldn't be disturbed. Eventually the woman who had delivered his tray came and picked it up, and a different woman came shortly afterwards and checked his vital signs. Nikola cooperated, the faster to get rid of her.

He watched TV for a couple of hours since there was nothing else to do. Gradually the other noises on the floor subsided as the patients settled in for the night. Nikola turned off the TV and the main light in the room, leaving just the night light glowing. He napped for an hour or so and then got up.

He went into the bathroom, closed the door behind him and turned on the light. He considered how to get the bandage off. With a little work he was able to loosen it enough to slip the whole thing off of his head in one piece. It was a bit blood-stained, so he really had hit the ground hard. But Nikola didn't have a second mirror to see the back of his head so he felt it with his hand instead.

He could feel the bumps of the stitches, but there wasn't any pain and he couldn't detect the injury at all. That was a relief of sorts. Just to make sure, he vamped and admired his black red-ringed eyes, long white fangs, and black three-inch long claws in the mirror. Unless he was having a very serious hallucination, he definitely was Nikola Tesla, vampire, not Jon Somebody, actor.

Nikola got the bandage straightened out and wiggled it back onto his head. It looked rather rumpled and slipshod, but it would have gotten messed up overnight anyway, maybe. He went back to bed. Tomorrow he would figure out how to get back to the Sanctuary, tonight he was getting a good night's sleep.

A/N: I feel a little odd writing a fictional story with real people it I don't even know. What do you think? Is it weird, should I drop it or continue it?


	2. Chapter 2

Jonathon Young, Canadian stage actor and portrayer of vampire Nikola Tesla in Sanctuary, paced on the roof waiting for his cue. Jack, the athletic young man playing the Abnomal he would be chasing waited too, but in view of the camera.

Jon knew his character was supposed to be catching up to Jack's character, so he had planned his route down the platforms to skip a couple of them; he was also going to have to move very fast, but that was no problem, he'd practiced a few times, knew the layout well, and wasn't bothered at all by heights.

When Jack got his cue, Jon moved forward until he was just off camera. His cue came and he took off for the edge of the building and leapt on to the first platform, down to the second, off the side to the third . . . he hit the platform hard and something broke beneath him.

The entire outside edge of the platform gave way, dumping him off sideways into space. He'd taken falls before, suffered minor injuries on stage, but he knew this would be different; there was only concrete below.

He expected pain. Instead, the world lurched and he was standing inside a room full of machinery. His mind rebelled and he closed his eyes in reflex, and then put his arms up across his ears too against the silence. He should be outside, lying on the ground, hearing the voices of the cast and crew, not here.

There was a surge of dizziness and his knees felt weak; he grabbed at a table that his one quick look had shown to be in front of him. But a hand on it wasn't enough to support him; he sagged down onto the floor, first to his knees and then on his side and wrapped his arms around his head again. Every instinct inside of him was screaming that this was impossible, he was in the wrong place, was actually somewhere else entirely.

He didn't know how long he lay there curled up, his sense of time completely confused. Gradually the _wrongness_ eased enough for him to move his arms away from his head and open his eyes just a little. He couldn't see much, mostly the underside of the table and the lower part of some machinery. He felt incredibly tired and unwilling to move.

Wherever he was he was alone, so he didn't have to move. No had seen him him fall down for no reason, but on the other hand if he needed help he could be in trouble. He closed his eyes and lay there a while longer, but his brain was slowly starting to function again and he was curious about where he was. Jon opened his eyes again and forced himself to sit up. He reached up and used the edge of the table to help himself get to a standing position.

The first thing he saw was vibrating in front of him on the table. It was a shiny silver egg larger than his head, round at one end but pointed at the other and it was humming ominously. He stepped back away from it.

The rest of the room looked like a Hollywood version of a mad scientist's laboratory. There was something crackling with electricity over in one corner, and some big machine glowing purple behind him. It didn't look to him to be very safe where he was, so he slowly moved away, carefully not touching anything, searching for a door. He finally spotted one and worked his way over to it, half afraid it would be locked. But the knob turned easily and he walked out.

And nearly bumped into another actor, Ryan, who was apparently heading into the lab. Relieved, Jon asked hopefully "Hey Ry, what is this a new set?" But he doubted his own suggestion; Sanctuary rarely used standing sets, mostly green screen that CG artists filled in later.

Henry looked at him in surprise, did a double take and said "What are you talking about? And you've called me a lot of weird things like Heinrich and Henri and other things I won't repeat, but how does 'Ry' equate to Henry? Or are you going to make a crack about a chicken?"

Jon's eyes quickly swept the corridor around them. "We're not on camera, what are you talking about?"

"I asked you first."

"Look, I think I may have suffered a concussion when I fell and hit the concrete. I don't remember anything from then until a little while ago in there. What is that by the way, Tesla's lab?"

"Of course it's your lab. What fall and how could you suffer a concussion? You can do a twenty story swan dive onto a car and not break a nail."

"That's ridiculous. I'm an actor, not my character, and so are you. You're a professional, you can't possibly be confused about that."

"One of us is confused, that's for sure. Maybe we should go see the Doc."

Relieved, Jon nodded; finally something sensible. "Good idea, there's one on the set?"

Henry squeezed his eyes shut, shook his head and decided not to answer; another round of this confusing conversation wouldn't get them anywhere. He just said "Come with me."

They went through several corridors, and then took an elevator up. In the elevator Jon asked "What did they do, rent the whole building?"

Henry looked at him out of the corner of his eye and said tersely "Don't talk; just don't talk."

In silence they left the elevator, went down a quiet hall to a door that was standing open. Henry peeked in, saw Magnus was there, and rapped politely on the door jamb.

Doctor Helen Magnus looked up and smiled. She was seated at her desk, working on her computer, and ready for a break. "Henry, what can I do for you?"

Henry and Jon went into the office. Henry said "Not me, you need to do something for him" pointing at the actor at his side.

"Nikola, what is it? Don't tell me you've used up all of that platinum already."

Jon stared open-mouthed for a moment; he had expected Amanda to clear up the confusion in a few words. He recovered himself but hesitated, not knowing how to answer that question. Finally he said "No, I don't have anything to do with platinum. Amanda, I'm sure this is a great joke, but I think I may have sustained a concussion when I fell because I am really totally confused."

Helen sat back with a puzzled look. She cocked her head and said "I think that makes two of us. Henry?"

"Three. I found him coming out of his lab and he was like this; called me 'Ry'."

Helen turned back to Jon. "Nikola, are you pulling my leg? This isn't some sort of ploy to get around your budget restrictions is it?"

Jon shook his head "I'm not Nikola, please don't call me that Amanda."

"My name is Helen, not Amanda. You are in the Sanctuary, where you live and work, and I don't know about any fall you might have taken. Come over here." She got up from behind her desk and led him to an alcove very much like the one she had had in her office in the old Sanctuary before it had been destroyed.

The actor obediently followed her and they sat next to each other on a half circular couch, while Henry pulled up a chair across from them. Helen said to Jon "Now start from the beginning."

Jon said "If this is an elaborate prank, this is really truly the wrong time for it."

Helen shook her head. "It's not, honestly. Everything is exactly as it seems."

The actor sighed, leaned back and put a hand on his head. "My name is Jonathon Young, I'm an actor, and we're making a movie about the Sanctuary. Okay so far?"

Helen replied "No, not at all. I don't know anything about a movie; this is the Sanctuary, a place where we study Abnormals and provide a refuge for them when necessary. You are Nikola Tesla, genius and vampire, and I think one of your experiments must have gone exceedingly haywire and affected your mind."

They stared at each other with identical worried looks on their faces. Jon insisted "No, I'm me, vampire Tesla is just the role that I play. You are Amanda Tapping, producer and star of the series playing the role of Helen Magnus." He pointed at Henry and continued "He is Ryan Robbins who plays Henry Foss."

Helen shook her head again and said "I understand that you have this idea in your mind, but it's mistaken, although remarkably detailed. Do you have alternate names for everyone?"

"Yeah, plus the film crew members that aren't anywhere around here, are they?"

"We have very tight security; no one could just wander in off of the street."

Jon looked pained. "I hate to have to say this, but I didn't wander in, I just sort of popped in out of thin air."

"Like John? That's not possible you don't have that ability and there are EM shields up. Nikola, you can't honestly believe all this."

Jon sighed and tried again. "I'm not Nikola Tesla, I'm Jonathon Young. I'm a Canadian stage actor and one of the founders of the Electric Company Theatre. I did a play called 'Brilliant!' about Tesla, and it brought me to the attention of the Sanctuary producers when they were casting their vampire version of the character. The last thing I remember we were shooting a movie scene and I was coming down a series of platforms, there was an accident and I fell. Somehow I missed the ground and ended up in that lab downstairs. I know how it sounds, but that's what happened, really."

Helen looked at him sadly and took his hand in hers. "Nikola, you must accept that this is all a fantasy of some sort. You've injured yourself somehow in your lab. We can try to help you, but you have to meet us half way."

Henry broke in with "Look at this point I don't know what to believe. There must be some objective way to tell who he really is; I mean, he's either a vampire or he's not."

Helen nodded. "There are a couple of ways. Nikola, or Jon, are you hungry?"

"No, my stomach feels a little queasy. I could use a drink of water though."

Henry jumped on that statement. "He's not Tesla, Tesla would want wine."

Helen corrected him "Not necessarily, Nikola drinks all sorts of fluids. Could you get him some water Henry?"

While Henry got a bottle from the office refrigerator, Helen said "The sure test is for me to take a blood sample. I'm very familiar with Nikola's DNA and it wouldn't take long. Are you willing?" She looked at the actor like it was some sort of test; she still wasn't sure if Nikola was having them on for some reason.

But the man in front of her said "Sure. At this point I'd kinda like to be sure myself. You do know how to take a blood sample? Maybe a doctor . . ."

"I am a doctor, and I assure you I'm quite competent with a needle. Let's go to the infirmary."

At the infirmary Jon took off his jacket and rolled up his sleeve while Henry just leaned against a table and watched. The actor swigged his water while Helen prepared a needle. She took a small vial of blood; a cheek swab would have gotten his DNA as well, but the data on Nikola in the computer was from a blood sample and she didn't want any variations that could put the result in doubt.

Jon smiled at her and said "You're right, you're very good with that thing, I hardly felt it."

"Thank you. It's getting late. Why don't you stay in Nikola's room for tonight, Henry can show you where it is. I'll run this and have the results in the morning."

The actor's smile was so Nikola it made Helen think for a moment that he had to be her vampire. But she caught herself and resolved not to form an opinion until she had the facts from the sample. But if this was Nikola playing some sort of game she would . . . well she wasn't sure what she would do, but he would regret it.

Jon said "I'd love to stay in Nikola Tesla's room, seeing how my character lives would be fascinating. Why does that sound crazy even to me?"

Helen smiled back at him. The man was intelligent, personable and engaging, whether or not he was Nikola. She replied "Well, the situation is unusual, and you seem to be quite rational about everything other than the question of your identity. Your story is internally consistent, when completely laid out."

Jon almost said something lecherous back. It looked like they were on the Sanctuary set, and this woman was so much like Amanda he nearly fell into their habit of adlibbing lines, tossing quips at each other and making much more of their characters' relationship than was in the script. But she wasn't Amanda and they weren't doing a scene, he had to remember that no matter how unreal this situation seemed.

Henry broke in. "Come on, I'll show you where you're going to bunk."

Jon just said "Okay, I'm feeling pretty tired."

The room he was led to was actually a suite decorated with solid, old-fashioned furniture and knick-knacks and artwork from around the world. Some of the object d'art looked like it came from another planet, some from every era back to Victorian times.

It all went together in a way, nothing clashed. Intellectually Jon had realized his character had lived a long time, but those rooms were like being surrounded by the decades. The actor wasn't entirely at ease there, and he doubted anyone who had only lived forty years or so would be.

The bedroom was decorated in the same way. Jon didn't want to go through another man's possessions, but he couldn't resist a peek into the closet, just to see if the guy really did wear a suit 99% of the time. The only episode where he'd been costumed in anything else had been "Trail of Blood".

There were a lot of suits in the closet, some designer labels, all of good quality. But there were sports coats, sweaters and work overalls too, and of course if he wanted to change clothes everything would fit him, right?

That thought brought him up short. Everyone here saw Nikola Tesla when they looked at him. There was a full-length mirror on the back of the closet door, and Jon looked at himself closely. He looked like he always looked when he played Tesla. But while he vaguely resembled photos of the real Nikola Tesla, he wasn't a double for the famous inventor. But apparently he was a twin of the vampire Tesla here.

So where was here? The Sanctuary, but there really was no Sanctuary, it was a TV show and a movie franchise; at least where he came from. So where was he now? Had he hit the concrete and died, and now he was here? This wasn't any heaven or hell in any religion he'd ever heard of. And he couldn't remember actually landing.

How could he have been falling one second and standing in Tesla's lab the next? Jon had spent his life studying, creating, and performing; he didn't know much about science, but he knew what had happened wasn't possible; and yet, here he was. He put his hand up and felt his head; no bumps, no painful spots on his head or his body either. So he couldn't have landed on the concrete, could he? Or maybe he had, and was lying in a hospital bed in a coma and was dreaming all this.

What if the people here were right and he really was Nikola Tesla and had suffered some brain injury that made him think he was an actor from another place? If Tesla could invent complex things completely in his mind without writing them down, why not invent a life? But Jon's memories were so detailed, so real, that couldn't be true, could it?

Okay, assume he was who he thought he was and what he thought had happened really had. He was falling, and he suddenly switched places with a scientific genius who had been far ahead of his time a hundred years ago and probably still was. Whatever had caused this wasn't on the set of the Sanctuary movie; it had to have started in Tesla's lab.

So Tesla did this. And even if Jon really was Tesla, then that was still true. But if he wasn't, then the problem was that Tesla was on a movie set somewhere and all his scientific equipment was here. So how could he undo it? Maybe he couldn't; maybe Jon was stuck in this place permanently. Or maybe tomorrow he would have to go to his lab and undo whatever he had done, even though he had no memory of doing it, because he actually was Nikola Tesla, not an actor named Jonathon Young.

Jon wished he hadn't thought about all of this right now; somehow he had to get to sleep and his head was buzzing. He stripped down to his underwear and crawled into Tesla's king size bed. He had to admit it was very comfortable, and he was really tired, although he hadn't done much physically. Well, maybe moving from _here_ to _there_ was a physically draining process.

He lay awake for a while, contemplating what his life might be like if he had to stay in this world. Did they have actors, plays, films? And what about everyone he knew and loved; would he ever see them again? Or was he really a brain-damaged vampire that everyone would pity for the next few decades, or was he just in a coma in his own time and place?

Jon thought he would be up tossing and turning most of the night, but somewhere in the middle of worrying about how he would get back to his own life, whichever one it was, he fell asleep.

A/N: As a character in my story I have to invent Jonathon Young to fit the plot. So if you know him (or are him) or imagine him differently, please don't be offended; it's just fiction.

Thanks to everyone who weighed in on whether I should continue this; obviously you said "Yes!"


	3. Chapter 3

Nikola was up and seated at a small table in the corner of his room when the hospital staff showed up with breakfast. He waited until they left and disposed of it the same way he had dinner, just drinking the coffee that came with it.

He felt hungry this morning, but wasn't going to be able to do anything about it until later. The hospital was just too busy for him to wander around unnoticed and while human blood was good, if he was discovered they would likely put his action down to his head injury and he would never get out of there. He had no idea what else he could find to eat wherever he was; dogs might be his only resource in a city, cats were too small and rats were just disgusting.

He hated dog blood more than cow, but if he got hungry enough . . . a nurse came in with a tray of instruments and interrupted his train of thought. "How are we doing this morning? We're going to get that bandage off and see how things are."

Nikola sighed and resisted the impulse to pick apart her grammar- "we" indeed. But he didn't want a long conversation, he just wanted to be alone to think and that wasn't going to happen anytime soon if he started quibbling with everything.

She cut the bandage off his head and removed the gauze from his wound, or at least where his wound had been. Nikola could feel her fingers clearing his hair from the area and he smiled a little when she took a long time doing that. Eventually she just said "Huh" and then "I'll get the doctor."

The doctor wasn't the one from the day before. He was a tall middle-aged man who entered with Nikola's chart and said "Mr. Young, I'm Doctor Regan. Are you experiencing any double vision, nausea, anything unusual?"

Nikola just said "No, I'm fine. I heal very quickly."

"Well let's have a look" Dr. Regan said and repeated what the nurse had done, looking through Nikola's hair for the injury that wasn't there anymore. Nikola could tell when he found the stitches but there was a half inch of hair already regrown where they had shaved around the wound and not even a scar to mark where it had been.

His voice troubled, the doctor said "I guess you do. It looks like it's all closed up; I might as well take out the stitches." He left to get other instruments and Nikola waited as patiently as he could. He could have just removed them himself far more quickly, but he didn't want to seem to be any more unusual than he was.

Once the stitches were out the doctor said he would get the release process started, and Nikola phoned for his clothes and ride. He was still going through checklists and filling out forms when the promised driver arrived with a plastic bag of clothing. To Nikola's relief, the driver called him Mr. Young so at least he didn't have to pretend to know the man.

Nikola went in the bathroom and changed, taking a few minutes to go through the wallet and check the keys that came with the clothes. The clothes themselves were of the jeans and knit shirt variety, but he hadn't expected anything more; after all, the actor he was impersonating was just a youth compared to the vampire. At least everything fit perfectly.

The driver took him to a motel. Nikola was a little disappointed, he had hoped for a stately old hotel with individually decorated rooms, but he realized that would be too expensive for a film company. He got out of the car and found his room, sliding the key card through the reader.

The room itself was decent and reasonably clean, although decorated in the bland cookie-cutter fashion usual to such places. Nikola was just pleased to finally be by himself. He went through "his" possessions just to see what there was; mostly more clothes of the same type, a laptop, cellphone, a second key ring, movie script, and a folder with notes and sketches for a stage production. He closed the drapes, took off his shoes and flopped down on the bed.

He closed his eyes and thought about his laboratory. The silver Praxian thing that Helen had called a teardrop had to be involved in this. He had finally figured out how to activate it, but it hadn't done anything other than hum a little which just showed it was on. He was fairly sure it was part of a larger network of mechanisms and by itself it shouldn't have had any effect on its surroundings.

So it must have interacted with something in the lab. But there was nothing else turned on except the Tesla coil in the corner. He found the crackle of electricity in the air soothing, but he was careful to turn everything else off as soon as he finished with it. There was his own personal electromagnetism of course, but he kept it damped down in the lab so his presence didn't interfere with his experiments.

Nikola thought back to that moment when he'd suddenly found himself falling and hitting the ground. What had he seen, felt, heard? He'd seen the sky, but it had looked purplish blue, not the normal color. He'd felt . . . an internal jolt, and a weird sensation of something pulling away from inside him; but he was entirely in one piece, he was sure of that. But if he and this actor had sort of occupied the same space at the same time, they were both very lucky to be alive and whole, assuming the other fellow was.

He'd heard the hum of the teardrop and an overlaying whine of some sort suddenly cut off as he "arrived" here. Purple, whine- the commutator? It tended toward a purplish field when on, and if it was stressed it could have produced the whine. And he had been between the teardrop and the commutator, if they had interacted then he could have been caught in some sort of field. His internal EM shield might have reacted to that, or been stimulated by it.

But the commutator couldn't have been on. He hadn't used it in weeks; unless someone else had been in his lab fiddling around, someone like a certain little curious HAP he knew. Nikola had seen signs before that Henry had been poking around when Nikola wasn't there, but he had never damaged anything and Nikola didn't really care. The vampire had taken the HAP under his wing, and although Nikola would never say it, Henry was a brilliant pupil. If he could learn things in Nikola's lab by himself without Nikola spending time showing him, so much the better.

But if Wolfie had left the commutator on and gotten Nikola transferred to another universe, Nikola was definitely going to have to have a few words with the kid when he got back, if he got back; no, when he got back. This was definitely Henry's fault, just because Nikola hadn't checked to see if anything else was on before he'd started up the teardrop did not at all mean that he was responsible. Well, maybe a teeny tiny bit, but it was mostly Heinrich's fault and he would definitely tell Helen that when he got back.

Now how was he going to get back? He'd taken the place of an actor here, which meant no lab, no scientific equipment, and no Praxian technology. Nikola would be lucky if he had access to a couple of screwdrivers and a wrench. And what could he build even if he had a full set of tools and supplies?

He had some basic understanding of Praxian nanobiotech, but he could never recreate the equivalent of the teardrop. If it communicated between universes, perhaps he didn't have to. He'd built the commutator, he could certainly build another one given the right tools and expensive metals, but it would take time and money that he might not have. But the machine hadn't activated the teardrop it had just interacted with it somehow, so did he need a commutator on this end or something else entirely? And if he found a way to activate the teardrop from here, what would happen?

There were so many questions he couldn't answer. Was his transfer to this particular universe purely accidental, and if he transported himself again would he necessarily return to his own or end up somewhere else? There hadn't been any concurrence in physical location between him and the actor for the first transfer, but the first transfer might have created a weak spot in the wall between the universes that he could exploit to get back.

But he and the actor had been dressed almost identically and looked like twins, did that matter? He couldn't see why it should, but maybe it did. How did the teardrop decide where to send him and who to switch him with? It couldn't be random coincidence, not with billions of people on each earth and perhaps an infinite number of earths in an infinite number of universes. Nikola had absolutely no proof, but he was sure the transfer had been a choice, not coincidence; the bio part of the nanobiotechnology had played a part somehow.

Maybe it had sifted through the possibilities and sent him here, because the actor was about to go smash on the ground and the impact wouldn't really hurt the vampire. But that would mean it could sense all the other universes and was able to make an unbelievable number of calculations per second. The thought troubled Nikola. That was giving that little silver ovoid a huge amount of both consciousness and computing power. Maybe he was giving it more credit than it was due. When he got back, he really was going to have to take that thing apart, maybe by itself in a shielded room.

The light coming around the drapes was beginning to fade, and Nikola needed to see if he could find any dinner. If nothing else he could get a bottle of wine; not very nourishing, but tasty. But perhaps . . . he checked the "things to do" brochure from the desk, and the phone book. The city did have a small zoo, and that offered a wider menu choice.

He decided to take a walk and scout the neighborhood. The motel was on the edge of some suburban shopping area. There was a restaurant next door to the motel, and a used car lot past that. The other direction looked like office buildings. Across the street were an auto parts store, some sort of thrift shop, and a liquor store. At least that was handy.

Nikola walked down past the car lot and kept walking. Two blocks down he found a small hardware store and went in, wandering up and down the aisles, especially in the electrical department. They had some of the basics he would need to build a commutator, but not nearly everything. In fact, he doubted a stage actor's credit cards would stretch far enough to purchase the materials. He didn't buy anything; he was going to have to think about what he could do with what was available to him first. If he couldn't figure out a way around using expensive metals and parts, there was no point in even starting on a commutator, or whatever mechanism he needed to build.

The most disappointing part of his walk was that he didn't see a single large animal, just small birds. So he would definitely have to go to the surrounding countryside or the zoo, and the zoo would be preferable. He stopped at the liquor store on the way back and picked up decent but inexpensive bottles of madeira and riesling and took them back to the motel. There were a couple of messages on the cell from people who were either friends or family and worried about him. He returned the calls, keeping the conversations short and just assuring the other parties he was fine, but tired.

Then he sat down and drank wine while reading the movie script. Nikola dreaded the thought of actually having to go in front of a camera and pretend to be an actor pretending to be him, but it looked like he would have to since it didn't seem he would be getting home anytime soon. Fortunately he could memorize easily, but he was aware that just knowing the words wouldn't be enough. But he had a couple of days yet.

He spent several hours contemplating how he was going to activate the teardrop from here and create the same effect as the commutator did with the meager equipment he could purchase locally. It had to be possible, and he was going to do it somehow; he wanted his life, his real life, not this pretense.

Deep in concentration, Nikola jumped a half a foot when there was a knock at his door. He answered it, expecting Amanda or Damien; instead there was a huge bald man in the hallway. Druitt!

Nikola recoiled and nearly vamped; could John transport himself between universes now? But the man wasn't at all threatening; in fact his manner was rather mild. "Hi Jon, I just stopped by to see if you were doing all right and ask if you needed anything."

Nikola relaxed; this wasn't John, just another doppelganger. The vampire said "No, thank you for stopping by . . . actually, do you have a car?"

"Of course, so do you, but I suppose it's still at the warehouse. It's probably better you don't drive right now anyway. Can I give you a lift somewhere?"

Nikola thought furiously; there just wasn't a good excuse for what he needed, so a bad excuse then. "I need to go to the zoo. Amanda and Damien were talking about adding a scene with an animal, something exotic."

The big man, whoever he was, looked concerned. "The zoo? How would a giraffe or a hippopotamus fit in with the plot? Even if there is one, it would be closed by now anyway."

Nikola was going back through the telephone directory while he was talking. He found what he wanted and tore the page out, as well as the map section. "That's perfect; let's go."

He grabbed his wallet and keys, hustled the big man down to the parking lot, and they got into his car and he began to drive while Nikola navigated. The fellow kept trying to talk him out of it, and Nikola realized he probably sounded a little crazy, insisting that it was better to do this now than when the zoo was actually open; but he needed privacy to feed.

They found the back of the zoo and followed the wall until they reached a corner. Nikola had his driver pull around the corner and park. "I won't be long I just want to look around at what's available. The whole thing is probably a bad idea, something crazy that Damien came up with I suppose, but after I check it out I'm sure I can convince him of that."

Nikola hurried around the corner, vamped and went over the wall. There wasn't anything very exotic in the zoo, but he found a couple of zebras and helped himself; at least it was better than cow or horse. Then he did a quick tour, avoided an inattentive night watchman, and hopped back over the wall. He shook himself back to human appearance, and sauntered back to the waiting car.

"Okay, I checked it out, and I didn't see anything we could use. Why don't you just drop me off at my car?"

"Yes, I suppose, I really don't want to be an accessory to whatever you're up to, Jon."

"I told you, they were just thinking about showing Tesla feeding off of something, and you can understand why I don't really want to do that. I think it's wrong for the character, and getting dropped on the concrete is enough for one project, I don't need to get kicked or bitten too. Now if Damien brings it up again, I can counter the idea with facts about what's available."

The bald man, whoever he was, nodded and seemed less worried. They arrived and parked in a nearly empty lot next to a gray rental car. The man asked "Are you sure you're all right to drive?"

"Absolutely" _now that I know your cars and rules of the road are just like the ones back home._

Nikola made sure his keys worked in the car, and waved as the other fellow drove off. But Nikola didn't immediately return to the motel. He walked around until he found the building with the descending platforms next to it, and mentally marked the place where he thought he'd hit the ground. He extended his EM senses but couldn't detect anything unusual; perhaps a slight vibration? He marked the spot in his mind so he could find it again, with or without the platforms, before he went back to the car and drove back to the motel to finish the script and his wine.

A/N: Saphyr88- thanks for the review. It's not always completely Nikola's fault, but he's usually in there somewhere isn't he.


	4. Chapter 4

Jon grimaced as he put on his dirty socks from yesterday. He'd been too wound up to even think about rinsing anything out, and now he was paying the price. Ironically he was surrounded by clean clothes just his size and better than he usually wore, but he wasn't about to take anything of Nikola Tesla's without being invited, not even a pair of socks.

There was a knock at the door as he finished tying his shoes. He opened it to an extremely large hairy person who didn't look very human. If it was a makeup job it was the best one he'd ever seen.

"Uh, Big Guy?" he ventured, hoping this being was the same as the Sanctuary character.

"Magnus wants you in her office. Come with me." The shaggy back was retreating down the hallway before the actor quite got over his shock at seeing a real Abnormal. Jon quickly shut the door behind him and hurried to catch up.

The Sasquatch opened a door and gestured with his head for Jon to go in but closed the door behind him without entering himself. Helen Magnus was seated at her desk, and Henry and another guy- Will? - were in chairs facing her with an empty one in the middle. Jon took the one in the middle while everyone watched him. _The specimen enters_ _stage right_ he thought.

"Good morning Mr. Young" Helen said. "I have the DNA analysis. While you and Nikola share a great many genetic markers, the third strand is completely missing from your DNA. You are definitely not a vampire."

"Please call me Jon. So you're convinced I'm Jonathon Young, actor, not Nikola Tesla, vampire."

Eying him, Henry said "Of course he is; Tesla would never wear the same clothes two days in a row."

Helen answered "Yes I am. But the question of how you came here and how to return you to where you belong still remains. The fact that your film company has analogs for all of us cannot be a simple coincidence. Is there one for Will here?"

Jon turned to the man who looked like Robin Dunne. "I know a character named Dr. Will Zimmerman, ex-police profiler and second in command of the Sanctuary."

Will's eyebrows went up. "Hey, am I getting a promotion?"

Helen said "No. Will is our resident psychiatrist, and he was a profiler before coming to us. But he's not exactly second in command. However, the similarities between your fictional world and our real one are astounding."

The door to the office opened and Big Guy came in wheeling a cart. Jon smelled food and his stomach rumbled a little. The meeting paused while tea, bagels with various toppings, and pastries were handed out.

At his second bite Jon became aware that everyone was looking at him again. "Not a vampire" he said to the room in general.

"Right" Helen said, recovering first. "Henry, have you been able to determine anything from Tesla's lab?"

"Yeah, he found a way to turn on the silver Praxian thingamabob. It's still in there humming and it's generating some kind of field."

Helen looked worried at that. "Perhaps you should turn it off until we understand it better."

"Great idea, just show me where the 'off' switch is."

Will said "You don't know how to turn it off? How did Tesla turn it on?"

"No clue. And I really don't want to examine it too closely just in case it decides to send me to wherever Nikola went."

Helen said emphatically "First priority is not losing anyone else. Second priority is getting everyone back where they belong. Is there anything else in the lab that could have caused this, Henry?"

"Well there isn't anything else new, at least nothing that our resident fang-boy has completed. The only other machines running are the coil that he always has on and the commutator."

Will asked "Could either of those caused this with or without the Praxian machine?"

"Uh, well . . . maybe." Henry turned to Jon. "Where exactly did you arrive?"

"Right by the table with that silver thing humming in front of me and some other machine running behind me."

The HAP grimaced a little. "That's the commutator."

Helen had known Henry since he was a child; she could tell there was more he wasn't saying.

"Henry?" was all she needed to say while she gave him a pointed look.

Henry squirmed a little. "Um, see I was in the lab trying to figure out what the commutator actually does- that is I know that it changes frequency spectrums, sort of, but I don't know how or how the controls work exactly. Anyway, I got a beep from my security system that Tesla was on his way so I left in a hurry and I kind of forgot to turn it off."

Will said what everyone was thinking. "So Tesla went in and turned on the Praxian device without realizing the commutator was on too, and somehow they interacted."

Henry looked sheepish. "Yeah, probably."

Helen asked "Have you turned the commutator off?"

"I didn't want to get that close to it either. I've got sensors taking readings of the field between the two devices."

Jon looked worried and asked "What kind of field? It's not radioactive or anything is it?"

"Dude, I'm really sorry, but I have no idea. I don't think there are any dangerous levels of radioactivity, but the readings so far are totally wacky."

Helen said sternly "Henry, you need to turn the commutator off so no one else gets caught in that field. Unless we should put Jon back into it? Might that switch them back?"

"Without knowing what it's going to do to me? I want to get home, but no thank you."

Henry looked uneasy. "I don't know how the field would affect anyone, and I don't really want to go anywhere near it because I certainly don't want to get sent to some other universe either. I mean come on, Doc, what are you going to do if you end up with a Sanctuary full of actors?"

"Go on the road, I suppose" Helen deadpanned. "Henry, use a ten-foot pole if you have to, but turn that machine off until we can analyze your data."

Henry nodded reluctantly and Will said "Come on, I'll go with you. If we end up making a movie at least we'll be together and neither of us will have to face Tesla alone."

Henry's eyes widened; he hadn't thought of that. "Oh crap, he's going to be pissed." Will added "Yep" as they left together, leaving Helen and Jon facing each other.

Helen gave the actor a small smile. "I really am very sorry for all this. Nikola's experiments tend to be . . ." _crazy, dangerous, "_advanced. This is the first time he's actually accessed an alternate universe though."

"Well that makes me feel special" Jon said a little sarcastically. After a moment of thought he added "He's a vampire, is he likely going to attack my friends and coworkers for their blood?"

"Does your character do that?"

"No, but everything isn't exactly the same here as in our show."

"Well that is the same. Nikola would never hurt anyone, at least not on purpose. I'm more worried about him than anyone around him. Do you have other Abnormals in your world, or is that just a fantasy there?"

"Strictly story. Can he really just suddenly produce fangs and claws?"

"Oh yes. And unfortunately sometimes it's more of a reaction than something he thinks about. If he does that in your world, how will people react?"

"I don't know. If it happened on the set, they might not believe it was real, that was just some new really cool makeup trick. Out on the street . . . anything could happen. Like I said, we don't have actual vampires, werewolves and Sasquatches."

Helen just nodded and looked thoughtful. Then she asked "Would you like a tour of the real Sanctuary? And then I can show you the media room so you can see what our TV and cinema is like."

"That would be great, thank you."

Henry and Will entered Tesla's lab cautiously. The flashes of electricity from the Tesla coil were distracting, but harmless. Henry had a two foot long plastic rod with a handle and a trigger on one end, and a gripping tong on the other that the trigger opened and closed. They edged cautiously through the tangle of machinery and wiring, Will close behind the HAP.

They approached the commutator from the back, and then Henry hesitated. "Go ahead, turn it off" Will urged.

"The problem is the switch is on the other side, inside the field."

"Oh. Then I'll stay here and watch. If we get another actor, at least we'll know right away."

Henry gave him a dirty look and crept around the side of the machine, the rod extended out in front of him. He poked his head around the front so he could see the switch, but the hum of the commutator suddenly started to rise in pitch; Henry jerked back.

He took a few deep breaths and tried again, more slowly, but the same thing happened. Will spotted a piece of small gauge PVC pipe lying unused and picked it up. It was light and about six feet long. "Here, try this."

Henry put down his gripper, took the piece of pipe and crept up on the commutator again, acting as if it was some sort of dangerous animal that might suddenly leap at him. But it just hummed and while the tone went up when Henry stuck the pipe into the field, the change was minor.

Henry pushed the pipe forward and after a couple of tries hit the toggle switch and turned off the machine. He and Will both gave a sigh of relief as the sound stopped. Indicating the area between the now silent commutator and the still humming teardrop, Henry said "Let's cordon this area off, just in case."

They taped yellow plastic ribbon with "Caution!" written on it to the table and the sides of the commutator. "Okay" said Henry, "Now let's see what the sensors can tell us."

But thirty minutes reviewing the data on the computer revealed nothing to either of the two men. Henry just shook his head and said "This is so weird. I've never seen anything remotely like this."

"Don't look at me" Will replied, "This stuff is way beyond my scientific knowledge."

Henry hit a couple of keys and said "Sent it to the Doc, maybe she can make something out of it. Hot Track II?"

Will grinned; it was their latest game addiction. "Sure, until Magnus calls us."

But the media room was occupied. The actor was in there intently watching some Shakespearean drama. Henry and Will hesitated in the doorway until he noticed them.

Jon muted the TV and asked hopefully "Did you find out anything about the field or how to get me home safely?"

Henry replied "No, not really."

At Jon's disappointed look Will added "But we sent the data to Magnus. She's seen pretty much everything at least once, I'm sure she'll be able to shed some light on the situation."

Henry agreed "Yeah, absolutely. Um, do you like video games?"

Jon looked unsure at the switch in topics, but then gave a hesitant smile as he realized why the two had really come to the media room. "No, I don't generally have time for that, but if you want to play . . . I know Hamlet pretty well, I don't need to see the end of this."

"Great" Will said as he and Henry quickly took places on the couch and got their game controllers out. As the game started Henry asked "Do you want to play the winner?"

Jon eased out from between them and said "No thanks. Helen showed me the library; I think I'll go see if I can find an unknown work by Samuel Beckett."

/

Nikola spent the day at the motel. It had cable TV and he found a local station running mini-marathons of Sanctuary reruns in honor of the film company shooting in the city. He worked on his bottles of wine and watched the interplay between the characters on the show.

When an episode with the Tesla character in it came on, he watched more intently. It was weird watching himself do things he'd never done, but the character behaved a little bit differently than he would have in those situations.

For one thing, the actor used his body more expressively. Nikola copied the physical moves as he saw them, even standing up and practicing walking. He hadn't done the hand-on-hip thing for years, and in general the hand gestures were something he would have to think to incorporate when he went front of the camera.

Nikola had to hand it to the actor who played him; the guy was good, very believable. The most difficult part would be to project general good humor like he did. Nikola just wasn't in a very happy mood. Well, he'd been a showman of sorts in his younger days, making crowds "ooh" and "aah" at his light displays, maybe he could do this. He only wished he could spend several days watching the old episodes.

But at midafternoon his phone rang and the voice on the other end told him he had a seven a.m. call. There was a bit of a silence on the other end of the line when he asked where he was supposed to go; then the voice said "The warehouse? Where all the sets are?"

"Right, the warehouse" he confirmed. Well at least he knew how to get there; what happened after that wasn't something he was looking forward to.

A/N: Thank you to dicopebistuteria and guest for their reviews.


	5. Chapter 5

Nikola arrived at the warehouse early. There were a few other cars in the lot and one or two people heading toward the building; he followed them though a small unobtrusive door.

Inside he wandered around. He found a set that he thought would be Magnus' office and another that was just three solid green walls and a matching floor. He thought that rather odd, but he knew little or nothing about how this was done so he would wait and see.

He found a row of trailers with names written on masking tape attached to the doors. One said "Young" and he went in; there was a costume waiting for him and he changed. The suit fit him well and looked okay, but wasn't overly expensive. There was also a piece of paper on the dressing table that appeared to be a schedule for the day.

The vampire had his script and the actor's laptop. He'd brought the computer for something to do if he got bored. From the schedule he would have time to use it; he was in the first scene but not in the next two. It was obvious the schedule was designed to give him a light workday his first day back after the accident. He found the first scene in his script, and was pleased that it was something simple; just a group scene in Helen's office, and he didn't have a lot of lines. He read through the scene again and went out to see what else he could discover.

He saw Will- no, the actor playing Will- go into a trailer that said "Hair & Makeup" and realized he needed to go through the process of being made ready to be on camera too. Nikola went in and no one seemed surprised to see him, so he was likely in the right place.

He stared a little at the person in the chair in the corner. He had Big Guy's face, but no hair. The wig was lying nearby and Nikola slowly absorbed what he had seen as he sat down in an empty chair.

None of this was real. He'd known that, but it was coming home to him that there were no Abnormals and no one was who they seemed to be. Everything he knew didn't apply here; this was all false fronts and flim flam. And being the only one who really was the character he played made him the most deceptive of them all. Even if he tried, it wasn't likely he could convince anyone that he was a vampire. He toyed with the idea for a while, but eventually rejected it. It would be fun, but it could get him into a huge mess if and when someone finally did believe it.

A woman put makeup on him which he just endured more than anything. The hair styling wasn't as bad, and he derived a little satisfaction from the time the stylist spent on the back of his head trying to find the wound and shaven area that wasn't there anymore. He nearly laughed when she realized if she couldn't find it the camera wouldn't see it either and gave up looking.

He followed not-Will to the office set. There were people crawling around above the tops of the walls adjusting lights and others milling around doing incomprehensible things, or maybe nothing really. Besides the actor playing Will there was a fake Henry, and after a while the bald man, wig in place, joined them as Big Guy. Nikola finally realized the actor was the man who had given him the ride to the zoo, more from his unique height than his features.

Amanda was there as well, consulting with a couple of men. Nikola didn't see Damian, but maybe he didn't get that involved with the actual filming. The vampire really had no idea and could only stand around like the others waiting to be told where to sit or stand.

Eventually someone pointed him to a high-backed padded armchair near the desk and he settled in. Nikola tried to remember his first line and drew a blank. The other actors were in place, there were very warm bright lights shining down on him and it got quiet. Amanda went and sat at Helen's desk. Somebody said "Camera" and then "Action".

Amanda said something, but almost immediately the man sitting near the camera said "Cut!" There was some problem with the sound, so he had a reprieve, if only a short one. Nikola found his heart racing and slowed it down. He closed his eyes and visualized the script, reading the page. Yes, a few lines from Helen, then Will, and then his first comment.

He wondered what he should do with his hands. Should he cross his legs? No, if it was him sitting here he would just sit with his feet on the floor and his hands on the armrests. By the time he settled the sound was fixed and they were ready to start again. "Take two" and Amanda said her line again, then the Will actor said his, and Nikola got his out without anyone looking at him funny.

They got all the way through the scene and Nikola hoped it was over, but no one got up and left. There was some shifting of cameras, and the man next to the camera that Nikola now realized was the director said "Jon, give me a little more, okay?"

Nikola nodded, thinking frantically _a little more what?_ The director turned to Will and said "Robin, emphasize that 'what?' more, and Chris, come forward into the shot, be closer to Amanda's side rather than behind her."

The vampire shifted a little in his seat so he wasn't leaning back as much and steepled his fingers in front of him. Now that they had gone through the whole scene once and he saw how the other characters were interacting, he had a better idea of what he should do. They went through it again and he felt his character sliding into the give and take with the others.

It took an hour to do the one scene, including close ups and a couple of minor flubs from the other actors. Nikola was extremely glad when it was over and he could go back to his trailer. He felt at least he hadn't disgraced himself, or the actor he was impersonating, but he was also sure that the real Jonathon Young could have done better. Well it was over and he needed to see what he was supposed to do next.

The first scene that afternoon was one between just him and Amanda. Nikola read over the scene, saying his lines out loud, trying them different ways. The scene ended in a kiss; that worried him. Not that he minded kissing Amanda, she looked very much like Helen and he certainly enjoyed kissing Helen. His concern was that he would go too far or not far enough; how passionate was a movie kiss between these characters supposed to be? And what should he do with his hands?

He went over it in his mind until he felt he was as ready as he was going to be; then he turned his attention to the laptop, intending to investigate prices for materials and components for whatever he was going to build to get himself home. He had a general idea, and he was sure his subconscious knew what it was; he just had to wait until his conscious mind became aware of it.

But instead he found old episodes of Sanctuary on the internet and picked out ones with Tesla and watched avidly. Nikola started with the final episode, figuring the relationships would be closer to what they would be in the movies, and worked backwards. At least he got to see the characters kiss, although the Tesla character was rather passive during the smooch, which he didn't care for.

But he soon realized that Helen was the focus of the show and Amanda was the star, which was why Young deferred to her and focused on her in their scenes together. From what he had seen so far that was still the case, so he should let her lead in the upcoming kiss, right? But that wasn't natural for him; perhaps he was old-fashioned, but he felt that while the man didn't have to dominate, he should certainly participate fully and share the decision-making when it came to amour.

In the middle of one of the episodes someone knocked on his door and said "Fifteen minutes." Nikola checked himself in the mirror and headed- where? The scene was in Tesla's laboratory, but he hadn't seen a set for that. He came out of his trailer and followed the sound of voices.

There were more people in the green room than anywhere else, and a table with scientific equipment had been moved in; although the equipment seemed to be more of a miscellaneous accumulation than anything needed for a specific experiment.

The director showed him where to stand and handed him something from the table to pretend to work on. Nikola picked up a small screwdriver, wondering if he was supposed to be assembling or disassembling whatever it was. Maybe it didn't matter as long as he was doing something.

Amanda was there but they had to wait for something, Nikola wasn't sure what. He took the cover off the unit in his hand while he was waiting so at least it would appear he was doing something scientific-ish when the cameras rolled.

They did the dialog, Nikola taking his cues from the professional actress. The first time through was done seriously and quietly intense, with a very perfunctory kiss at the end. The second time her energy level was higher and he raised his to match it, and she grabbed him and planted a good solid stage kiss on him at the end.

The third time they both let loose; Nikola was afraid he might be overacting, but he realized it didn't matter, whoever watched the film at the end of the day would pick and choose what they liked. When they reached the kiss at the end and Amanda reached for him, he grabbed her instead, pulling her in tight and kissing her thoroughly while saying to himself _not Helen not Helen _and keeping his hands in non-objectionable places. But he ran his mouth down the side of her neck anyway, just like he would have if he had been kissing Helen.

The director didn't say "cut" so he kept going, nibbling her neck with his fangs tightly retracted until she bent her head down to him and captured his mouth again. Lips locked, Nikola was about to pick her up and take her off to . . . _no, not Helen_. He broke off the kiss and after a moment of gazing into the eyes of the surprised actress still in his arms, the director finally ended the scene.

He thought he might be in trouble, but Amanda grinned at him and said "I think we just took Helen and Nikola's relationship to the next level."

Relieved, Nikola smiled and gave her a half nod, half shrug which she accepted. He escaped back to his trailer, thankful the scene was over. Amanda just looked too much like the woman he loved- sounded like her too- and he didn't trust himself to remember that this was just a movie. He really missed his own Helen.

The last scene he had for the day was a conversation while walking down a hallway with Henry, no, what was his name? Ryan, that was it- which didn't take any real acting ability and he got through it fairly easily.

He wasn't needed for the last couple of scenes for the day so he went back to his trailer to change. Tomorrow's schedule was on the dressing table and he took that back to his motel room to go over it with his script. He couldn't exactly call himself an actor yet, but he'd learned a lot in one day. And he still had to look up the prices of items he might need for his device to switch back to his own universe. Good thing he didn't need much sleep.

/

At Helen's urging, Jon had found unopened packages of new underwear in Tesla's dresser and showered and dressed in the vampire's clothes. The style was a little more formal than he was used to, slacks and dress shirts rather than jeans and tees, but the clothes were comfortable. He hoped Tesla wouldn't mind, but then he had to be wearing Jon's clothes so he couldn't complain too much, could he? Jon rolled up the long sleeves of the shirt and went to see Helen to find out if any progress had been made in getting him home.

He made a couple of wrong turns but finally found her office and knocked on the door.

She called "Come in" and looked up and smiled at him from her desk when he entered. "Good morning, Jon, sleep well?"

"Fine, thank you, and yourself?" the actor responded politely as he seated himself in front of her desk.

"My dreams were only troubled by the fact that I'm having a great deal of difficulty making any sense out of the data Henry sent me on the field generated between the teardrop and the commutator."

"You still don't know what it is?"

"Not really, nor how it works. I have Henry getting more readings from the teardrop to see if comparing what it does alone with what it does in conjunction with the commutator tells me anything."

Jon slumped a bit, disappointed. "That sounds like I'm going to be stuck here for a while."

"I'm afraid so. But as long as you're here, I was wondering if you could do a favor for me."

The actor perked up, spread his arms wide and asked "What could I possibly do for you?"

"I'm glad you asked. It has occurred to me that this is a golden opportunity that may never come again. I need someone to play Nikola Tesla."

Jon gaped at her momentarily then recovered. "But you have the real Nikola Tesla, why would you need someone to pretend to be him?"

"There is a gentleman by the name of Mr. Morris. He owns a company that makes products for police departments and security companies. He's interested in buying the manufacturing rights to a device Nikola invented that detects and interprets odors for use in search and rescue operations."

"The problem is that he operates on a very personal level. He won't buy the device without meeting us, and he's something of an Abnormal-ophobe. He knows Nikola and I are a little different because of our age, but he believes us to be basically human. Unfortunately, without meeting us he won't manufacture and distribute the device, and it could save innumerable lives."

"I thought Tesla looks human; I mean I'm human, and we look alike, right?"

"Yes, but Nikola doesn't dine quite like we do and Mr. Morris insists on a dinner meeting. I suspect he's heard stories about Nikola's nature and wishes to ascertain if they're true. I've been putting him off for some time, but with you here . . ."

Jon hesitated. "I've never met Nikola Tesla, I don't know if I could mimic him without ever having seen or heard him."

"There's likely some security footage of Nikola I can dig out and show you, but keep in mind that Mr. Morris has never met him either. He's only seen pictures, and if I introduce you as Nikola I'm sure he'll accept you even if your mannerisms are a little different."

"Well, you're giving me room and board so I owe you something for that, and I can't see that it would do any harm and it might do some good. So sure, I'll play Tesla again for you."

Helen gave him a warm smile. "Wonderful. I'll arrange it for tomorrow if possible; I suspect you'll be here for a few more days, but I'd like to get it done just in case we can return you more quickly. I'll send the security footage to the media room so you can watch Nikola on the big screen, life-sized."

Jon spent time watching the vampire Nikola Tesla from the security footage. It was odd watching his twin do things when he didn't have a twin. But the real Tesla didn't look that hard to imitate, he didn't gesture as much or as broadly as Jon played him, but outside of that there was little difference.

Amanda also gave him data about the odor-detecting device to memorize so he could answer questions about size, weight, range, accuracy et cetera. For a professional actor, it was a piece of cake.

Mostly he was bored. He killed some time in the library and media room, but he didn't have a function in this universe. He was used to being engaged in theatrical productions, not just acting but creating, writing, and anything else that needed doing from applying for artistic grants to moving props. Doing nothing much was hard when there was so much that needed to be done to get back to where he belonged and he just didn't have the knowledge to participate.

Tomorrow at least he could do something to pay a little back to his hostess for her hospitality; meanwhile he just had to wait.

A/N: Sorry this chapter is a little late, and a Collections update will be much later. I spent four days working a charity event for our local library and just haven't had time to write.

Lorienleaf, Spirithawk7, and dicopebisuteria, thank you for the reviews.


	6. Chapter 6

Nikola used Young's credit cards to order things on line with overnight delivery, and he also spent liberally in hardware and specialty stores. He forged the actor's signature with aplomb, although he was worried the cards might be refused toward the end of his spending spree, having no idea what the actor's credit limits were.

The item he was making would be small enough to fit in his pocket and wouldn't cost more than a few thousand dollars. He'd decided it needn't be very complicated assuming the teardrop and commutator were running; he just had to provide some instructions to the field they were generating. He could provide the power himself, but he needed a unique type of signal to punch through to the other universe.

He wasn't at all worried about the Praxian teardrop; he'd gotten it started with pulses of energy he had created personally and wasn't sure himself how to turn it off. Unfortunately, the commutator would be easy to shut down. He hoped Henry and Helen would realize he needed it running to get back where he belonged and give this world back its actor.

He shopped in the evening and stayed up late refining the design in his head. Nikola was sure the device would work as he planned; he just hoped he had the science right and it would have the desired effect. Inter-universe travel was an unexplored field so he was guessing in part.

The movie schedule had him completing the run down the platforms in the morning; that would be no problem, he could jump off the building without hurting himself. The challenge would be to make the run look good but still believable that a human actor trying to imitate a vampire had done it.

He took his small tools and parts to the makeshift studio in the morning along with his script and laptop; the rest of what he needed for his device should be delivered during the day. Nikola changed into his costume, went to hair and makeup, and amused himself considering what he should call it while he was being worked on. It would really be the first ever universal remote control, but he needed a distinct name for it even if he never used it again. Tesla Multiverse? Tesla Alterplane?

He found his way to the roof. He had to wait awhile while the crew set up, and he took the opportunity to view the platforms from the roof and plan his route down them. The director came up to him and said "Jon, are you sure you're ready for this? We could have a stunt man do it or delay it a few more days, it would put us behind schedule a bit but your safety is more important."

Nikola gave him a reassuring smile. "Absolutely, I'm completely recovered and I'd like to get it out of the way." The director just nodded happily and went back down the stairs in the building to take his place by the camera. Nikola truly did want this shot done. He wasn't at all sure that Praxian silver glob might not refuse to send the actor back here and let Nikola go home if the human might be put in danger again.

Eventually the actor playing the Abnormal was in place for his run, the cameras were ready, the sun was shining and the director shouted "action". The other guy took off and Nikola waited for his cue.

When the signal came, Nikola took off at fast human speed, went down platforms one, two and three, and then just for fun jumped to six, nine, twelve and the ground. He landed running in the same direction the fake Abnormal had gone and the director yelled "Cut!"

The vampire trotted back to the cameras; he was surprised the director, the cameraman, and in fact everyone looked a little shocked. Oops, had he overdone it?

"Something wrong?" he asked.

"Nnno" the director said "That was actually fantastic, it was just kind of scary to watch." He turned back to the camera and said "We'll use that one; I don't think we need another take."

Pleased with himself, Nikola went back to his dressing room. He had time before his next scene so he busied himself assembling his device and thinking of more names for it. Tesla's Alternative Remote? Teslatravel Controller?

By the end of the day he had the device fully assembled. In between scenes he went outside and found the spot where he'd originally landed. The platforms had been taken down, but Nikola was pretty sure he had it right. He looked around one last time, energized the device and pushed the button.

Nothing happened. He sidled over a step or two and tried again, but he remained in the wrong universe. Nikola tried sensing the faint vibration he thought he'd felt before, but couldn't detect anything. Frustrated, he walked around in a circle with his remote control activated, but he still couldn't get any type of response from the alternate universe. Stupid universe; maybe the commutator was off. That would be just like Henry, closing the barn door after the horse was gone so it couldn't get back in.

There was no one else around so Nikola let loose with one fervent "Son of a bitch!" before he gave up. He put his device back in his pocket and went to his dressing room. It was late, but there was one more scene to do. It was one in which his character was very angry and he'd planned the timing of his attempt with that in mind. Either he would be gone and the actor could do it, or he'd really be steamed and wouldn't have to pretend.

Back in his motel room he paced for some time, trying to think of a way to turn the commutator on from here or contacting someone in the alternate universe with a message. He didn't come up with anything so he decided to go to the zoo for a meal.

He was getting heartily tired of zebra so he decided to explore the rest of the exhibits. Monkey blood was sour and in the past they had always panicked and made a lot of noise when he got close to them, so he avoided the monkey house. Reptiles were disgusting; big cats had claws and teeth superior to his own and he only tackled them when he was in the mood for a fight.

Nikola had gotten so used to wandering around the zoo unmolested he had forgotten the guard. He strode around a corner and came face-to-face with the man. But this wasn't the first time the vampire had been caught in places he wasn't supposed to be; the best defense was a good offense. He did a quick assessment: older man, frayed cuffs, needed a haircut, probably working just to make ends meet, weakness would be money.

"You'd better call the owner of the zoo and the vet. Your male lion is very sick, every second counts."

The guard scowled and said "Who are you and what are you doing here?"

"Were you not listening? If that lion dies, I'll make sure you lose your job!" Nikola said, feigning anger; a little acting ability was a handy thing and he was still fresh from his "angry" scene.

The guard looked frightened, fumbled out his phone and started calling. While he was busy, Nikola walked off quickly like he was heading back to the lion exhibit, but veered onto another path as soon as he was out of sight. No time to explore now, zebra for dinner again. He hopped into the zebra enclosure; the zebras were used to him and didn't even try to run away. In no time Nikola had fed and gone over the wall to his car. He wondered if the guard would lose his job when the owner and vet arrived to find a perfectly healthy lion; well if the man was stupid enough to panic and call on the word of a stranger, he should be fired.

Back at his hotel Nikola took apart his Tesla Alternate Universe Remote Control- no, much too long. But he couldn't find anything wrong with it, so he reassembled it and went to bed; he had an early call in the morning, and his subconscious had some work to do figuring out why he was still there.

/

Jonathon Young went through Tesla's closet looking for the right clothes to wear to dinner with Mr. Morris. He wanted to project that he was a nice, normal human being. He chose a light gray pinstripe three-piece suit, white shirt and blue tie with a diagonal stripe. There, very conservative and ordinary. He went to Helen's office for her approval since she knew more about the situation than he did.

Helen took one look at him and nearly laughed, but stifled her amusement to not offend her guest actor. She shook her head and said "I'm sorry but that won't do. Nikola might wear that to the funeral of someone he didn't like, but not to a dinner where he wanted to impress. Let's take another look in the closet, shall we?"

Back in Tesla's suite she quickly pulled out a dark gray silk Armani suit, black vest, pearl gray shirt and ascot. She went to her own rooms to change into her dinner clothes while Jon changed into the outfit she'd chosen for him. The suit fit beautifully, obviously hand-tailored for Tesla, but he worried a little about wearing something that expensive; what if he damaged it, or spilled something on it?

He noticed his own clothes- well the costume he'd been wearing- had been cleaned and pressed and were hanging to one side in the closet. He would wear that when Helen and Henry were ready to send him back. He could do without Tesla's fancy suits, but he admitted to himself that he would miss the shoes, they were just so comfortable.

There was a rap at Tesla's door and Jon answered it to find Helen in the epitome of the "little black dress", high heels, dangly earrings and a black lace shawl. "Ready?" she asked.

He nodded and they went out the front door to a limousine. Unlike the movie Sanctuary, this one was still above ground. He hadn't seen the place from the outside before, and while it looked a bit like the original series building it was larger and appeared more defensible. And there were a lot of gargoyles on the roof. As they pulled out it seemed to him that the gargoyles were turning their heads and watching; did that one just spread its wings?

The drive took close to an hour but was comfortable in the limo. The restaurant was set back from the road and had a circular drive up to the front door. The limo dropped them there and went off to park. Inside, the maître d' smiled when he saw Helen, bowed slightly and murmured "Doctor Magnus, a pleasure to see you again. We have the table you requested, and your guest has arrived." He took them through the main dining room to an alcove where a large heavy man waited.

Mr. Morris stood politely to greet them. The black man topped Jon by three or four inches and was built like a football player; not fat, but burly. He was dressed in a black suit that looked as expensive as Jon's, with a gray-striped shirt and black tie. He greeted Helen with a smile and took her hand gently. Jon wondered suddenly how he should play Tesla's quirks; should he decline to shake hands, or at least wipe his hand with his handkerchief afterwards, or would Morris be insulted?

But the big man just nodded to him and didn't offer his hand. Jon nodded back, relieved, and they all sat down. The conversation flowed smoothly, Helen and Morris doing the brunt of the talking while Jon just spoke when addressed. Morris was a little stiff and formal at first, but gradually relaxed and became jovial. Jon acted enthusiastic when asked about the odor-sensing device and went into detail about its abilities; Morris seemed to catch his enthusiasm and began expounding on possible applications of the device.

Helen smiled at the two men chatting amiably, but then gradually seemed to become distracted. She kept glancing out of the alcove at other diners, and finally asked that the curtain be drawn across the opening so the three of them couldn't be seen. Jon looked at her questioningly but she just smiled and said she felt a chill; the actor realized this was a lie since the large room was warm, but Morris was too engrossed in their conversation to notice.

They lingered over dessert and coffee, the businessman relaxed enough to talk about his family; it made Jon feel a little homesick, but he didn't show it. By the time the meal was finished and they were ready to leave, Morris shook hands with both Helen and Jon and they had a general understanding of the deal they would make. Lawyers and contract specialists would work out the details.

Helen called the limo with her cell and paid with her credit card. Then she moved swiftly through the larger dining room, Jon keeping up with her and both of them trying to be inconspicuous, although the actor didn't know why. But when they reached the outer door, there was no limo waiting.

They went out to the driveway but the car wasn't in sight. Helen didn't wait for it. She glanced back over her shoulder and said "Come on, we're sitting ducks here."

Jon asked "We're what?" as they walked quickly down the sidewalk paralleling the long curved driveway and out to the street. Still no limo, and after one quick glance up and down the street, Helen took off her heels and said "Keep up". She began running barefoot down the walkway past the parking lot and into a downtown area. Jon ran behind her but finally touched her shoulder and got her to stop.

"What's going on? Why are we running?"

Helen looked around and just then Jon heard a whine and brick fragments exploded off the side of a nearby building. "That's why!" Helen exclaimed and shoved him toward an alley. Another shot spattered more brick as they turned the corner.

Jon could have outrun her, but he didn't know where they were going so he followed closely, now looking back too. He saw two men with guns framed in the mouth of the alley as they dodged left into a noisome narrow way. Helen tried a door on one side but it was locked and Jon tried another across from it with the same result. Helen had her shoes and clutch bag in one hand, a small silver gun in the other; her shawl had been lost somewhere along the way.

They dodged through a warren of narrow streets, turning corners to stay out of sight. They came to a chain-link fence and Jon was surprised when she hiked up her skirt and started to climb it; he followed. On the other side they turned two more corners and then she stopped, pulling them both into a recessed doorway.

They were both winded and took a moment to recover their breath and listen for pursuit. It was quiet behind them. Jon took the opportunity to whisper urgently "Who are they? Why are they shooting at us?"

"I'm so sorry. I had no idea we would be in any danger here or I would have made other arrangements. I'm afraid we've been spotted by the Cabal."

A/N: Thank you for your continued support, dicopebisuteria.


	7. Chapter 7

"There's still a Cabal here?" Jon asked.

That got Helen's attention. "Your show has the Cabal in it too?"

"It did." Jon didn't want to bring up Ashley; if she had been real here and killed as she had been on Sanctuary, it would be a painful topic. He skipped over the bulk of the story about the evil organization that had killed her. "We had a story arc with the Cabal as the bad guys, but at the end Druitt and Tesla went on an off-screen rampage and decimated them."

"That would be handy, but I haven't seen John in decades and Nikola isn't a violent man. We'd best keep moving, if you're quite recovered?" Helen asked while slipping her shoes back on; her gun had already disappeared back into her clothing somewhere when she had climbed the fence.

Jon nodded and they walked quickly out of the maze of alleys onto a city street. It was late and the shops were closed. Helen guided them through mostly deserted streets with only the occasional passing car for company.

"It's just a few blocks to Main Street" she said. "We might be able to get a cab there."

"Or you could call someone."

Helen reached into her purse as they walked, pulled out her phone and showed him the cracked screen. "Already tried it, it's broken I'm afraid. But someone will come looking for us eventually."

"I hope they get to us before the Cabal finds us. Do you think they're still in the area?"

"Undoubtedly. They won't give up easily; I've inconvenienced them too many times." They walked quickly without seeming to hurry, the sharp tapping of Helen's heels echoing off of the silent buildings.

Main Street was more brightly lit, street lights glowed glaringly white and stop lights flashed their colors every block or two. A quick glance showed a distinct lack of people to the left, but to the right several blocks down it appeared a theater was letting out. There were numerous people on the street, parked cars pulling out, and several open businesses that looked to be restaurants of some sort. They headed right.

Jon was starting to think they were safe when he heard an engine rev behind them. He and Helen both turned to look and a large black sedan with the windows open surged toward them.

Helen pulled him down, falling beneath him and basically using his body to protect her own. Jon was so surprised he just let her do as she wanted as the cough of silenced guns filled the air with bullets above them, ricocheting off of the concrete building behind them and shattering a plate glass window.

Helen pushed him off to the building side muttering "Sorry, automatic reaction, I forgot you're not my vampire for a moment."

But by then the car had passed. They both saw the back lights brighten as the brakes were applied and Helen and Jon leapt for a nearby alley in back of them. They sprinted down it, flattening behind a dumpster as the car appeared in the bright light across the mouth of the alley, the open windows facing them.

Another round of gunfire pinged off of the walls and street and they heard swearing behind them down the alley somewhere. The car backed until only the front end was visible and they knew it was coming after them. They ran again, seeing a disgruntled homeless man in a doorway. As they passed, Helen grabbed his shopping cart full of his belongings and swung it out into the middle of the narrow road, hearing more swearing behind them as they ran on and skittered around a corner, heading in the direction of the theater.

Unfortunately the alleys were wide enough here for garbage trucks and a sedan had no problem following them. They heard the crash as it went through the shopping cart and the headlights appeared behind them. Helen spotted a narrow opening between two buildings and veered into it with Jon on her heels. The car couldn't follow them there, but there were no dumpsters or places to hide either; they needed to get through it before the Cabal hoods behind them reached the end.

They almost made it. They were lucky, the bullets missed them but the spall off of the buildings didn't, peppering them with sharp bits of concrete as they emerged into a smaller, quiet street. Jon tried to turn toward the theater again, but Helen pulled him across the street and dived into another alley. There was a stairway leading down below ground level to a door; it was locked, but they huddled in a small space behind the stairs with a trash can and a broom.

Tesla's Armani suit had been sliced behind Jon's right shoulder and he had a couple of small cuts. Helen's left earring was mostly gone and she had cuts on her neck and cheek, but nothing serious. They waited in silence, listening to the occasional car go by.

The two of them slid down to sit together next to the trash can. They were going to be there a long time.

/

Henry stared at the data on his computer. Magnus hadn't been able to tell him anything about the teardrop field; it was completely new to her too. He compared it to the data from the field generated by the Praxian artifact and the commutator together; the two fields didn't seem to have any real relationship to each other.

Maybe if he turned the commutator back on he could try to send something else through to the other universe and get readings of the field actually transporting some object. He got his pipe pole and looked around for something innocuous. He went into the broom closet and pulled out a well-used mop and bucket. Tesla liked his lab to be spotless, and he did clean up his own messes.

Henry smiled at the mop as he stood it up in the bucket. It was a little too short, but other than that wasn't a bad representation of the vampire, although Tesla's hair wasn't quite as long as the mop head strings and his body quite as skinny, but still.

Henry took his piece of pipe, stood as far back as he could, and flipped the toggle switch on the commutator. It hummed to life and he went back to his computer to watch the data feed on his laptop.

/

Nikola paced in his motel room. The Alternative Remote Discontinuance in Synchronization sat on a table where he could glance at it at one end of his path. TARDIS seemed like a good name for it, but it seemed vaguely familiar somehow. He rejected the name and kept pacing.

The name of his device was the least of his worries. He knew it worked, it had to work, so why was he still here? His reasoning kept leading back to the commutator. That had to be the problem, but what if Helen forbade it being turned on again to prevent anyone else going between universes? What if she decided the Praxian device was too dangerous and had it destroyed? Neither of those things would happen immediately he was sure, but how long did he have?

And if he got stuck here- the possibility made him shudder. He was already antsy from lack of work. Acting was all right as a diversion, but he didn't particularly enjoy it and couldn't imagine himself doing it full time. If he suddenly gave it up and opened a lab and began experimenting everyone would think he'd lost his mind. But he couldn't live his life just entertaining people, not when he should be creating inventions that changed the world.

At least the actor on the other end wouldn't have that problem. Very few people knew Nikola Tesla well, and most of those who did were in the Sanctuary and undoubtedly knew exactly what had happened even if they didn't understand the science like he did. When- if they gave up trying to get him back, Young could just leave the Sanctuary, get an agent, go on with his chosen profession, and live a reasonably normal life. Giving up their own world wouldn't be easy on either of them, but his twin could build a life, unlike Nikola, who was already frustrated with inaction.

And this universe didn't seem to have any Abnormals at all. Nikola's universe had human beings, so the actor could be with his own species at least. Nikola had no hope of finding any vampires in this one, although if there was no one to stop him, perhaps he could make some. No, bad idea, he also had no one to help him stop his potential creations from taking over this world. Sasquatch was a myth here, the invisible man just a story, and werewolves and vampires were Halloween black-and-white movies that youngsters laughed at.

The vampire poured himself another glass from his $200 bottle of wine. It was the most expensive vintage the little liquor store had, and it was pretty good, although he'd had better. That was another problem. The actor's funds wouldn't last forever either; eventually Nikola would have to earn some money. He was getting by in the movie, but he would never be a great actor and he knew it; he didn't really want the job. And he would not settle for being a second-rate anything.

As a scientist he had no credentials here. There had been a Nikola Tesla in this world, he'd looked himself up on the computer, but no one would believe his real identity and he couldn't reveal it anyway. If anyone believed it he would be a freak to be examined by medical science which would require escaping and hiding his identity, so he might as well just deny his real name and skip the unpleasant part, if he had to stay.

Which left him with no occupation, unless he went back to school under an assumed name so he would qualify for a job in science. What a waste of time; but he might have to do it. But that was in the future somewhere, right now he had nothing to do and it was driving him batty. He drank some more wine and paced.

Then he grabbed his remote, car keys and the remainder of the wine and drove back to the warehouse. If he was going to pace, he should pace where he might be able to contact the field that transported him here. There was no one around so if he looked crazy, so what?

/

Jon and Helen sat reasonably comfortably under the stairs. Aside from the concrete under them being hard, having nothing to ease their thirst after all that running, and not being able to converse for fear of being overheard, it wasn't too bad. Then they heard voices coming closer.

"They have to be here somewhere. Mac saw them cross this street and go down here but they never came out the other side. Check down that stairway."

Helen and Jon got up silently and Helen produced her gun and pushed him behind her, this time remembering he wasn't bullet-proof. Jon was a gentleman, but she had the gun so he let her do it. Besides, if he got killed, could Tesla ever get back? No one knew, so staying alive might mean giving the vampire a chance to get home too, and he knew Helen wanted that badly. This was her area of expertise, not his.

There was a slight metallic sound from above; someone leaning over the iron railing next to the stairs? There was a scrape of feet moving away, but neither of them relaxed since the feet didn't move very far. Then there was silence for a few seconds; suddenly they heard a rush of steps coming down the stairs.

Helen stepped out, her gun raised and she fired. The first man fell into the wall, his gun firing over their heads, but the man behind him fired at the same time as Helen's second shot. He staggered and she went down, losing her gun.

Jon saw in an instant the blood on her arm and thought she wasn't badly hurt. He scooped up her fallen weapon and raised it. One of the men on the stairs was crumpled, sitting and leaning against the wall, his gun two stairs down. But the other was aiming at him.

The actor squeezed the trigger, but the little silver automatic jammed. Time seemed to slow down; the actor saw the anger in the man's eyes, the blood on his lower chest, the round black end of the barrel, and the man's hand tightening on the trigger.

Then Jon was in a parking lot, his body moving but his feet weren't. He stumbled and fell to his knees, the gun still in his hand. No one else was around, the night was quiet. Jon felt a little dizzy but that quickly passed. He looked around and saw a bottle of wine on the blacktop and beyond it his rental car. Staggering a little, he got up and went to the car and was relieved to see the key laying on the passenger seat.

He looked around and realized he was in the lot next to the warehouse where they were shooting. The platforms were gone, but Jon was sure he recognized the place. He was home. But if he was here, where was Tesla? Had he gone back to his lab? Jon looked at the gun in his hand; Helen was alone, unarmed, wounded, and about to be killed. But there was nothing he could do about it.

/

Henry was both excited and confused. There had been a huge spike in the readings, but the mop was still there. Unless it had exchanged with another mop that looked just like it? How could anyone tell? Well at least he had a lot more data now. He picked up his length of pipe and turned off the commutator. It was late, time for bed.

/

Nikola stepped forward and his foot hit the bottom stair; he fell just as a gun went off above him. His wine glass broke on the stairs as he vamped and lunged upward. Another shot hit him mid-body from close range but he didn't hesitate. He had no idea who was shooting at him but it wasn't Helen and nobody shot him with impunity except her.

He grabbed the man's gun with one hand and his head with the other. There was a resounding "thunk" as he used the convenient brick wall to knock the man unconscious. Below him he heard Helen say his name and he turned to see her sitting up, blood on her arm, her face. He hurried back down the stairs.

She was sitting up. Nikola asked quietly "Can you walk and is everyone else a bad guy?"

"Yes, and yes. It is you, isn't it? Are you all right?"

"Nobody else and I'm good enough; a bitch of a welcome home though."

Nikola collected both guns and handed her one; the other he stuck in the waistband of his jeans; he didn't like guns but he wasn't going to leave one behind for the enemy. He led the way up the stairs, pausing with his head above ground level to look around. They were near the mouth of an alley and there was a black car parked across the end of it. They ran for the car.

Thankfully the keys were in it. Nikola slid into the driver's seat, tossing his gun into the back, and Helen got in the passenger side. She grimaced a little as she had to use her injured right arm to close the door. Nikola peeled away from the curb to the sound of shouts and shots behind them. He swerved around a couple of corners and left whoever was after them behind.

When they were well clear he pulled over and shut off the engine. Nikola devamped and got out, coming around the car to check and bandage her arm. The bullet had passed through, missing the bone and major blood vessels and he just used a claw to cut a piece off of the bottom of his shirt and wrapped her arm with it.

She didn't bother checking his injury; it would be closed up by now anyway. But their heads were close together when he finished bandaging her, and she kissed him lightly. "I'm so glad you're back. You'll tell me all about the other universe?"

He shrugged a little. "Not that much to tell. Bo-oring. And I had to_ perform_."

/

Jon drove to the motel. In the morning he would turn in the gun to the police and just say he found it. He was glad to get out of Tesla's damaged suit and into his own clothes. He hoped the vampire hadn't done too badly while he was gone; the final performance unfortunately would likely be a bit uneven with two different people portraying Tesla. But he could only smile at the thought that tomorrow he was going to get to go back to the set and _perform._

A/N: Thank you, Lorienleaf and dicopebisuteria for the reviews. Hope everyone enjoyed the story. In case you were wondering, the Praxian teardrop biological component was just a tiny bit of _fangirl_, so of course it kept Jonathon Young safe.


End file.
